Donald Trump, the Maccabees and a shortage of saviours

It's that special time of year where we all start thinking about saviours of one sort or another.

Yes, even us Jews do it a little bit, though the guys who were responsible for Hannukah -- the Maccabees -- were a small family of dedicated fighters as opposed to one individual.

However, just like how Christmas has (so I'm told) become more about presents than about J.C., the Maccabees have kind of receded into the background in favour of lighting the candles, eating the latkes, and spinning the dreidels.

Most Jews don't even know the names of the five Maccabee brothers. There's Judah, who was the leader, and then there was Simon, and....um...Dancer, Prancer and Rudolph? It's kind of like only being able to name two members of the Avengers.

My point here is that pinning your hopes on a saviour, or a group of saviours, isn't the greatest long-term strategy.

History is rarely kind to even the best and the brightest, and for every example of men changing events, you can cite an example of events changing men right back.

Despite this being the year where the hated Consensus proved that it can withstand even a decade of Stephen Harper, many conservatives have decided that Donald Trump is the man who will succeed where Harper and a host of contenders from Herman Cain to Michelle Bachmann and even Rob Ford failed.

I get that my definition of "failed" is a pretty hardline one and won't sit well with most conservatives, but by now it is pretty well received wisdom that getting elected and staying elected can, at best, delay the progressive march onward. Thus, I define "success" as stopping that progressive march. (You really should too.)

Now, the Democrats might well be stupid enough to treat Trump as a ticking time bomb and nominate someone other than Bernie Sanders to go up against him, thinking he'll go down in flames under the scrutiny of a Presidential campaign. The campaign we want -- the campaign we need -- in 2016 is a clash of civilizations, an epic showdown between the populist right and the populist left. Nominating a pantsuit like Hillary Clinton and depriving us of a Twilight Of The Gods-like fight like that would cause people to elect Trump to the Oval Office out of disappointment alone. See if it doesn't happen.

But even if The Donald makes it, the sad fact is that without a movement of equally stone-facedly determined people committed to Making America Great Again, he'll end up leaving office after eight years having been penned up by The Consensus with maybe one or two unambiguously conservative achievements to his name.

That’s why the Maccabees were smart: They had a movement behind them -- not a very large movement, but one that was ferociously determined to kick their ancient version of The Consensus out of then-Israel.

If we fast forward to modern Israel, we can see the results. Years before Trump even started talking about building a wall, Israel built one, though for hasbara purposes it is called a "security fence." Benjamin Netanyahu has survived attacks perpetrated upon him not only by Israel's version of The Consensus but by every other country in the world's version of The Consensus besides, and despite that The Consensus is still trying to get him the way they eventually got Harper and Ford.

Given the recent friction between Bibi and Trump, that lesson will probably go unlearned by the Republicans. But hey- maybe we're overdue for a Christmas or Hannukah miracle, and miracles are the one thing I can't predict, owing to their inherent unpredictability.

Comments

Walls in the past, the present and probably the future mean Nothing unless they are backed up by Military force and the Will of the People. Until then -it is all a Charade. It is just my opinion.
Happy Hanukkah .